The paper considers the history of the appearance of the Fundamental Beginnings of the zemstvo reforms of July2, 1862. Basing on the analysis of the archive and published sources it is proved that P. V. Valuev viewed zemstvo reform as part and parcel of the project of “Governmental Constitutionalism”.
The paper focuses on one of the important aspects of zemsky reform preparation - N. A. Milyutin's observations on Valuev's preliminary draft of zemstvo establishment (Preliminary Essay). The polemic sharpness of Milyutin's “observations” that occured due to promoting his own self-governance model has been traced.
